A poem I created re-reading his letters to me, written in 1966, as he mentored my teenage poetry. How lucky I was to have such great advice!

Do write from direct experience.
Don’t be too literary in your language.
Do use metaphors that delight the reader with a shock of poetic image.
Don’t be predictable.

Don’t confuse the role of the poet with a career.
Do realize no-one can make a living from writing poetry.
Don’t worry if you never publish a line.
Do let your pen take to paper nonetheless

Do practice your craft in all forms – write, write and write.
Don’t forget also to read, read and read poetry.
Do realize there are ten charlatans for every genuine artist.
Don’t be discouraged.

Do recognise that the profession of letters is exacting and disappointing.
Don’t expect too much too quickly.
Do be patient and resilient to the apparent injustices.
Don’t think true poetry is about spontaneous sincerity. This is nonsense.

Do sweat until your poems seem to have spontaneity.
Don’t cease until they have the freshness of a thrush’s song.
Do consider Yeats’ saying that there is a “fascination of what is difficult”.
Don’t, in Coleridge’s words, mistake a desire for reputation for the actual power of poetry.

Do avoid the huge abstractions, write simply using noun and verb.
Don’t write loosely – “all those adjectives”.
Do consider whether tranquillity can be anything but calm?
Don’t lose the depth of feeling but, whatever you do, avoid the word ‘soul’.